The present application relates to signal apparatus, and in particular relates to a signal system and signal light display system for use by a paving machine operator to provide instructions to an operator of a vehicle delivering a supply of paving materials to the paving machine.
Road paving operations are often carried out at night, in order to reduce the amount of interference with vehicular traffic. Nevertheless, paving operations usually involve noisy machines and trucks, making spoken communication difficult. Paving operations using a paving machine require coordination between the paving machine and paving material supply vehicles in order to minimize interruptions of paving operations.
Paving materials, such as hot mix asphalt concrete, are dumped from a truck or shuttle vehicle, whose operator often cannot see whether or how rapidly material is being discharged, into a receiving hopper of a paving machine. In the past hand signals and shouting have been the principal means of communicating between a paving machine operator and the operator of a dump truck or shuttle providing paving materials to the paving machine, but, because of darkness, hand signals may not be practical during night paving operations. Since voice communication is not dependable because of the ambient noise, and because the dump truck or shuttle vehicle has an obstructed field of view at critical times during paving operations, an improved method of communication is desired, both to improve safety and to improve efficiency of such operations.